A wonderful woman of God delivered an encouraging message about not giving up. She used the scripture Luke 18 which is The Parable of the Persistent Widow. This widow kept on going to a judge who neither feared God nor man she kept on asking him to grant her justice against her adversary, verse 2 says 'He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' For some time he refused but he finally said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't wear me out with her coming!"

This widow was persistent she wasn't going to stop asking until she got a result. God kept on giving me this particular scripture in the beginning of 2011 as I was feeling very discouraged about personal and business situations. I've been praying to the Lord for results and nothing seemed to be happening.

It can be very discouraging when you're putting all your energies into a project and it is not producing much fruit; I know I've been there. In my early stages of doing the magazine Keeping It Real I felt like giving up.

I knew this magazine could help so many women but I couldn't understand why I wasn't seeing the results. I prayed, and I prayed I cried out to the Lord. I read the motivational books, thought positively, heard the success stories, but the reality was this business at the time was not achieving what I would like it to achieve.

Not only was I unhappy with my business not doing well, but I had to deal with an adolescent teenager not one but two. The eldest one kept on getting herself into trouble no matter how many times we would speak to her, educate her about the dangers out there she still would go about doing her own thing hanging out with the wrong crowd. Plus we were dealing with a friend who betrayed our trust, lied about us, and hacked into our email accounts. It was all getting too much.

God would bring me to this scripture but I was so wrapped up in my circumstances that I failed to take heed on what he was trying to tell me, so I supposed he had to bring someone else along to minister it to me.

As soon as I heard that message my attitude started to change 'Lord' I said 'I'm not going to stop asking until I get a result I am going to be like that persistent widow. But at the same time I am going to have the faith to know nothing is impossible with you and that you can make my business succeed you can turn around my teenage child, you can give us justice over our enemies.'

From that day I decided not to give up until I got a result. I also came to an understanding that everything in life is a process, achieving wealth is a process, getting good creditability is a process. That widow had to go through a process. There is no quick fix, you will have to put in hours not just of work but of prayer and you will have to sacrifice.

Eventually I noticed that people started to subscribe to my business not just register but pay a subscription fee as they saw the value of the magazine to their lives, and I saw my daughter's attitude beginning to change. She was finally starting to be obedient, and we are beginning to see justice over our enemy.

Were still a long way to go but it's a start. God wants us to be persistent in prayer and not to give up. The devil wants us to give up but we must take the example of the widow and pray until we see the results, until we see progression. It may take a couple of months before things start to change, I know it can seem like forever when were going through our problems but we must remember a thousand years is like one day to God. What seems like a long time to us is not a long time to him.

Remember it's important to have faith, as Matthew 18:6 says 'And the Lord said: "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you he will see to it that they will get justice and quickly. However when the son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"

So don't give up, don't give in, and don't back down. We shall reap what we sow and I know that if you stay persistent in prayer and in achieving your goals you will see the results.

Thank you for reading this article.
May God bless you!

Marie Grossett aka Vanessa Grossett is a published Author, and has interviewed best selling and award winning Christian Authors.